by Meagan Spain

Created on: October 15, 2008   Last Updated: November 11, 2008

The Oscar fish is a member of the cichlid family that is native to South American waters. Over the years this fish has become a common aquarium fish. In raising an Oscar as an aquarium fish, if a person wants the fish to be healthy, hearty, and survive for a long time, one must remember the environment that the fish is native to.

In it's natural environment, the Oscar thrives in slow-moving white water (with water temperatures ranging from 70 degrees Fahrenheit to 82 degrees Fahrenheit), where it can hide and live in underbrush, debris, and around pieces of wood. The Oscar survives in the wild living off of fruit flesh, insects, and smaller fish. The Oscar is also a relatively placid fish but is known to become aggressive, especially during breeding season.

In establishing an aquarium environment for Oscars, one must remember that an Oscar may start out small but will gradually become a larger fish, possibly topping out at 18 inches long and weighing in around 3.5 pounds. The male Oscar will grow at a faster pace than the female, so do not get too concerned if you purchase a pair of them and one grows faster than the other. If you purchase a pair of Oscars, think hard about adding a third Oscar to the mix because the pair will likely become aggressive towards the newer fish, especially if the fish are defending their mate!

In choosing tank mates for the Oscars, remember that they like to eat other fish and critters. If adding another fish to the tank, make sure that it is larger than the Oscars, otherwise it might become a hearty snack for the Oscars. Also take into consideration the size of the tank before choosing to add more fish to the water. In order to keep the water from becoming toxic, the filtration system on the tank must be able to keep up with how dirty the fish make water. Oscars are messy enough on their own, without other fish helping the situation out.

In feeding your Oscar, remember that Oscar's are not generally picky about what they eat but if you want to keep your Oscar healthy then you need to feed it food that is high in protein. The Oscar's diet can include: flake food, pellet food, shrimp, krill, meal-worms, insects (including ants, beetles, spiders, and crickets), smaller fish, red worms, night-crawlers, and pieces of other fish. Some pet stores do sell prepared cichlid foods, which are okay to feed your Oscar, but if it is frozen remember that you have to consider how many times it has been frozen and thawed then refrozen. This may not be the healthiest choice of food for your Oscar. The larger Oscar will eat more than the smaller Oscar so pay attention to how often and how much your Oscar's do consume. The juvenile Oscar will eat smaller amounts more often than the adult Oscar, just like if you are feeding a baby.

Oscar's have different personalities, just like people. You can set up your aquarium any way that you want to, but the Oscar's are likely to rearrange it until they are satisfied. Expect for plants to be uprooted, rocks moved around, heaters pulled off the sides of the tank and so on. Enjoy watching the differences between your fish, the aggressive one that is always ready to eat when the owner comes to feed them and the shy one that will hide behind plants up until it is time to eat. The personalities will be diverse and well noted by an owner that pays attention and cares for their Oscar.

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